Buckmasters Magazine

How to Get Bow-Close

By Fred Eichler

Advice from this traditional bowhunter can help you be in the right spot. I heard the sound of footfalls on the leaves to the right. I could tell by the cadence it was definitely a deer and not a squirrel, hog or armadillo, and I didn’t dare move my head for fear it would spot me. I listened as it moved closer, my eyes aching from the strain ... READ MORE

Scrape Savvy

By Bob Robb

Is hunting over scrapes really worth your time? I remember when I first encountered a whitetail’s scrape while hunting. I was in Alberta, and the area was torn up like a barnyard. I was pretty dumb back then. It was about the time Nixon was president, and I thought I had found the proverbial pot of gold. I sat at that spot for a week. Except ... READ MORE

5 Keys to Early Season Bucks

By Steve Bartylla

It helps to have a step-by-step plan. I was getting frustrated. I was hunting a northern Alberta zone that had a five-day bow season. Arriving two days early, I figured it would be a simple task to observe some fields, pick a few bigger bucks and set up for the hunt. Sunset on the first day of the season found me racing to the least promising alfal... READ MORE

How to Choose a Bow Sight

By Bob Robb

What you need to know to make the right choice for your bowhunting style. Few things in archery bug me more than crummy equipment. Tops on the list is a cheesy bow sight. A poorly constructed sight is difficult to dial in and can, and will, fail at the moment of truth. Fortunately, there are plenty of great sights out there to choose from. Selectin... READ MORE

The Same Old Rut?

By Bob Humphrey

When it comes to deer hunting, the rut is hardly mundane, routine or predictable. It is said the English language is one of the most difficult to learn. One reason is certain words can have several different meanings. Take the word “rut,” for example. It is used to describe the breeding season of cervids like deer, elk and moose. It als... READ MORE

Take It From Tony

By Dave Henderson

The most respected deer expert you’ve never heard of shares a few words of wisdom. Tony LaPratt is not a deer biologist. He’s not an agronomist. In fact, he never went to college. He doesn’t have a television show, and he’s never written a book or magazine article. You won’t find his instructional DVDs anywhere, either... READ MORE

Test Before You Plot

By David Hart

Why do so many hunters skip a $12 test when it’s a critical part of a successful food plot? You’ve heard it time and time again: Test your soil before you drop the first seed or buy a bag of lime or fertilizer. It’s good advice, but it’s advice many food plotters fail to follow. That’s too bad. A $12 soil test can save... READ MORE

Scouting Basics

By Bob Humphrey

There’s no need to feel lost when stepping onto a property for the first time. The first week of gun season was winding down with little to show for my efforts. After 41⁄2 days of hunting private ground with a friend, we’d both come up empty. The next day would be Saturday, and the weekend warriors would be out in force, so I deci... READ MORE

Fine-Tune Your Frontloader

By Brad Fenson

Modern muzzleloaders are capable of excellent accuracy, but getting them there takes work. I was walking a series of small bluffs during a soft deer push when a big buck broke from cover. My buddy yelled to give me the heads up that a deer might be headed my way. I rushed ahead to a clearing with hopes a buck would appear. As if on cue, the tall-ra... READ MORE

When Good Stands Go Bad

By Bob Robb

Even the most careful hunters can pollute a stand if they use it too much. Ah, the vigor and intelligence of youth! When I started hunting whitetails, I ran through the woods thinking I knew everything. Truth is, I didn’t know much at all. After a few seasons, I remember asking myself, “How come the old guy in camp always gets a buck, a... READ MORE

The Deadliest Disease

By Bob Humphrey

Despite the fear about CWD, far more whitetails succumb to EHD. When chronic wasting disease (CWD) hit the headlines at the beginning of this decade, it was considered a significant threat. Speaking at the Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference in April, 2002, Dr. Valeruis Geist — one of North America’s most respected big game biologist... READ MORE

Off-Season Practice

By P.J. Reilly

Five Tips that will make you a better shot with a bow. The closer the buck inched toward my treestand, the louder my heart pounded in my ears. It was Nov. 1, 2010, and a fine Pennsylvania 9-pointer had found the spot where I’d started the doe-in-estrus scent trail that ended at the base of my tree. My trail was reeling the buck in, but his pr... READ MORE

Where Did He Come From?

By David Hart

Sometimes the biggest bucks show up out of nowhere. When his client said he hit what looked like a heavy 10-pointer in the waning hours of daylight last fall, outfitter Chris McClellan figured it was one of the bucks he had been watching prior to the season. Diligent in his pre-season scouting, McClellan is familiar with the bucks that live on the ... READ MORE

Midmorning Madness

By Mike Handley

Think twice before abandoning your stand for a rendezvous with a cheeseburger! If a buck falls in the forest and nobody’s there to hear the shot, do guns make noise? You betcha. There might’ve been fewer deer hunters afoot or aloft between 10 a.m. and noon on Nov. 15, the second day of Indiana’s 2009 firearms season, but those who... READ MORE

Weathering the Storm

By Ryan Noffsinger

Everybody loses a deer sooner or later. It’s how you bounce back that really counts. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you could taste it? I’d bowhunted west-central Illinois for three straight years without filling a buck tag, and I desperately wanted to dine on venison instead of tag soup. I wouldn’t have minded a tri... READ MORE

Bucks in the Badlands

By Jim Kinsey

Fathers watch their sons tag big bucks during an unforgettable public land deer hunt. Montana’s general rifle season was well under way, but I was in Zimbabwe filming a pilot for a new TV show. You’d think being on safari in a foreign country would have kept me focused, but I was dreaming about big bulls and bucks in the States. I could... READ MORE

Trail Cameras for Dummies

By David Hart

It’s time to catch up and start using this amazing scouting tool. As an outfitter whose business depends on putting clients on big deer, Josh Cobb needs all the help he can get. So when he started using trail cameras eight years ago in an attempt to gauge the caliber of bucks that were on his southern Iowa properties, Cobb was floored. "I was... READ MORE

Plotting Their Demise

By Bob Humphrey

Some food plots are designed for feeding; others for shooting. They’re feeding on beans right now,” our local contact said. So, for two straight afternoons, I sat along the edge of a huge soybean field. The only deer I saw were a few does that came out just as shooting light faded. It was early muzzleloader season in Kansas, and conside... READ MORE

The Ol’ Switcheroo

By Joe Blake

Pose as a rival to throw a mature buck off his game. The big whitetail was closing the distance, but light was fading just as quickly. I wanted to force the issue with a challenge grunt or wheeze, but the openness of the area and the proximity of the 140-inch 8-pointer made me think twice. At 50 yards, the buck stopped and tested the wind. Plumes o... READ MORE

Déerjà vu

By Gita M. Smith

Lightning strikes twice for Ohio bowhunter Ron Lance. A tinkling sound. What could make a tinkling sound? Ron Lance had to think a moment. Then he realized that something — maybe antlers — had been brushing the branches of saplings. The bowhunter from Waynesville, Ohio, couldn’t see a buck, but he got ready, just in case. This was... READ MORE